Advice for Women Artists and Arts Leaders from Women Artists and Arts Leaders

The stats are not encouraging: women artists make only $0.79 for every dollar men artists make, as reported in the most recent Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. And you don't need to look far to find yearly reports from the likes of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts or the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to see how far women lag behind men when it comes to holding leadership positions in the arts and culture field. Still, as NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson wrote in her statement for Women's History Month, "We celebrate the power of women in the arts—past, present, and future. Their contributions make possible the best version of us and the nation we aspire to be." To honor the spirit of all of the women artists and arts leaders on whose shoulders we stand, those women who despite the odds and the naysayers persisted and insisted that women's stories, women's voices mattered, we offer you these words of encouragement from women in the arts who have inspired us with their work, with their leadership, and with their refusal to give up on even the hardest of days. We invite you to browse the Art Works blog, our podcast library, and the American Artscape magazine archives to find even more stories of perseverance, empowerment, and triumph.